


Ethics 101

by Goodluckdetective (scorpiontales)



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-04
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 17:28:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6161071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiontales/pseuds/Goodluckdetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back when she was in medical school, back before the war came roaring in like the firestorm is would become, Emily Grey believed in ethics. </p><p>War provides no such luxuries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ethics 101

    Back when she was in medical school, back before the war came roaring in like the firestorm is would become, Emily Grey believed in ethics.

    It was a nicer time, back when she could believe in ideals and that she would be able to cling to them, despite anything. She attended her medical law courses with more enthusiasm than the class combined, she attended office hours to debate hypotheticals that kept her mind ablaze, she wrote down the complexities of A.I medical theory when she had a moment to spare in between classes.

    There was a lot of debate on medical ethics those days, the rise of robotics and aliens and the issues they brought  still being contested in courts. But one rule, despite the change in times, remained the same.

    Never operate when you’re emotionally compromised.

    Looking down at the report of Dexter Grif’s injuries, Emily Grey wished she had the luxury to pass this operation onto someone else and never look back.

    There was no such reprieve; she was the only capable surgeon for this job and everyone knew it. Massive blood loss, broken bones, internal bleeding, organ damage; only she was capable of getting Captain Grif through this operation with his life, and even then the odds weren’t in her favor. The doctor’s usual perky demeanor was absent in the prep room, and as she flipped to the last page of the report, it was only years of medical training that kept her from vomiting over her new scrubs.

Captain Grif was her friend. The Reds and Blues were her friends. And Hargrove had gutted them all like fish.

Emily closed her eyes, and wished for one moment the man hadn’t gotten away after all, so she could introduce him to how skilled she was with a scalpel.

She walked over to the prep sink, washing her hands. This would be her first surgery of the day and her only surgery for a friend; most of the Reds and Blues were either in good enough condition to avoid the operating table, or being taken care of by other medical personnel. Putting on her gloves felt like she was doing it for the first time instead of the hundreth, and she took a deep breath before peering into the operating room.

Grif wasn’t there yet. They would be rolling him in at any moment, straight from the ship to the hospital bay. Rolling him in for Grey to save or fail.

“ _They’re my boys,_ ” Sarge’s voice echoed in her head, a memory from weeks ago, over dinner. A date of all things. In this warzone. God, they were idiots. “ _Idiots, but my boys. And as their commanding officer, it is my duty to keep them from getting themselves killed. Even Grif.”_

Emily had no doubt he’d tried to do so on Charon. After all, Sarge was in the operating room over, being dealt with by another surgeon. A surgeon who wasn’t Emily.

“ _You can’t be there_ ,” she thought, closing her eyes. “ _You can’t operate_.”

“I don’t want to operate,” Emily whispered. “I just want to be there.”

She’d lost too many friends out of sight. Too much family as well. And now, she was going to risk losing Sarge too without being there to hold his hand. To say goodbye, if it came to that.

“ _Grif needs you_ ,” her mind supplied. And that was where the line fell, wasn’t it? Sarge was being treated by another doctor; when it came down to it, Emily had no influence whether he lived or died. But Grif?

“ _They’re my boys_.”

Emily reached for the door handle. Opened her eyes. She could hear the medical team rushing in. They would be here soon.

“Don’t worry, Sarge,” Emily said. “I got them.”

And with that, she opened the door.


End file.
